The music they make will also influence our impression of the artist. And there it's also insightful to see what factors into our taste by what the artist can probably influence the most - the artist itself, their song writing and message it gives and the morals of them.
Let's get it on then.
Song writing - Gotta Give Up Or Try Writing Yourself?
It is very interesting how artists (or more accurately, those services who publish music like Spotify) can be their own "genre" by being a singer-songwriter. It is such a funny thought to me that I wonder how it came to be.
If you remember the first musing, you will remember what I said about Britney Spears or an artist's image. That's valid here.
Music is art...sometimes to some people (a big point I will cover in another musing). To them it is very important how it's made. And the same goes for some artists. They really want to make their own music and it only feels like their own music if they write the lyrics themselves. That can lead to very iconic moments in music, may it be lyrics of a genius, chilling words, powerful thoughts or wacky expressions - think of Bohemian Rhapsody written by Freddy Mercury, Mockingbird by Eminem or the Earth Song by Michael Jackson.
On the other hand, you have artists who write the songs for the artist - I checked through some artists on Wikipedia and looked for lists of who the song writers were. Interestingly, long-running artists have songwriters which don't change for most of the time, they stick for like 5 years or so on. I also assume that song writer only means they wrote the lyrics (as the column was named "Writer") while Wikipedia says a songwriter can also compose the melodies and so on.
And there...you may feel that a song which somebody performs wasn't written by them - 1D is a good example since most of the time, they sing rather tacked on (my opinion) while in others, they sing more freely as if it's related to them.
Relation is indeed an important part - the more related an artist feels to a song, the more they probably will try to sing it perfectly.
Take "Hurt" by Johnny Cash who covered this song by somebody else - the original singer said that his song is all his now, that amazing Cash's version is (and indeed it is). Songwriters who may have terrible singing (no offense, please) can still pitch their lyrics to artists who may like the lyrics and the other things and perform a song.
That is the part which is about the song writing now. There are distinct branches but the mixes make again endless possibilities, awesome music not written by the artist, terrible music written by the artist - it all can happen.
But what would a powerful song be without a message - or an artist's image additionally?
The Message - Relax And Take It Easy?
You have Imitation of Life and then you have Mockingbird, you have The Riddle and then you have Dear Mr President, We Built This City and Land of Confusion - you can tell that these are very different to their counterpart.
Imitation of Life, The Riddle and We Built This City have no real message to give out as the lyrics are kind of nonsensical; and if they have one, I'd say it's badly delivered.
Then on the other hand, you have the other three songs which certainly carry a meaning - most of the time openly.
I will define the term "message" at this point: the impression or meaning left after listening to it fully, but also what it tells while the song is playing - whether it's a story, metaphor or anything else. In particular Mockingbird by Eminem has an apologetic tone and the listener can really feel how important these words are for the one singing them. It mostly tells a story of past things, so the emphasis lies on the story behind it.
Then you have the songs where the story isn't that relevant - Pink's "Dear Mr President" is a difficult one as it's about past things but also an open criticism to the president.
Land of Confusion is a clear anti-war song and its emphasis is clearly that something must be done against the current situation.
These have a meaning - does a song need a meaning? It may be up to the artist's intention. Good example: every song you should dance or rave when in clubs. Eat Sleep Rave Repeat, Animals (gosh, not the song from Maroon 5 though), Wake Me Up, Like A G6 ect.
The meaning part is also important as many different types of listeners exist - in the most basic form, those who listen actively to lyrics and those who only care about whether it sounds good or not. And this is a disputable point where taste differs greatly. If you don't like nonsensical messages, you may be a rock listener - after all, rock or metal music is in general written by emotions so most of the time, a rock or metal song will make sense. If you don't care about it, you may be satisfied by dance songs, too. To each their own, as I said, as long as it sounds good, why not?
However, there might be some restrictions to that rule...
Morals - I Don't Care...Or Do You?
Morals may also play a big role in songs. And that is the part where hip-hop will get its first mention because which other genre would be more appropriate than that? A very vocal part of the scene is complaining about how today's hip-hop is only about money, having bitches, drugs and guns. I doubt that it was very different in the 90s or 2000s to be honest but I'll drop that topic for now. Apparantly, people are appalled by these kind of bragging songs. They will listen to hip-hop songs which aren't primarily about these themes or some don't listen to this genre at all - these themes give hip-hop the bad reputation it has.
A case where this was the case already is rock and metal music. Oh my, it goes back to the sixties or fifties where rock was the spawn of evil and corrupting youth (or if you by Hitler, jazz was evil thus banned in Nazi Germany, little trivia for today).
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| Yeah, it just smells of the devil, right? |
Additionally, there are songs with morals beyond comprehension, like where you are literally told to get wrecked at parties and other similiar things. And again, listeners may argue: is it okay or not? Just a song or to be taken seriously? That's another thing which must be considered when looking at what you like and why you like it.
Most won't take your listening seriously, others will For Example: I Touch Myself - immoral and unnessecary, hilarious that it exists or a seriously good song exploring sexuality? All up to what you think is correct to sing about.
I will keep my opinion away from any of the musings as long as we are on the analytical level but I may write something inbetween two musings about music trends which I totally despise at the moment or make me boggle my mind multiple times (mostly about the "morals" part, that's why I kept it shorter here)
Until then, see ya folks!
First musings:
What one can influence:
Insertion: Music trends which begin to annoy me
What one cannot influence:
Producers
Song Aids
Music as Product
What we can influence:
What is music to us?
What do we convey?
Should there be a consensus of how music should be?
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